1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a vehicular shift lever device, and more particularly to techniques for improving stability and smoothness of operation of a shift lever from a parking position to other operating positions.
2. Discussion of Related Art
There is known a vehicular shift lever device wherein a path of movement of a shift lever is defined or restricted by a guide slot having a corner portion which has an angle of bend of about 90° and which corresponds to an intermediate position of the shift lever that is spaced apart from a parking position in a select direction and from other operating positions in a shift direction perpendicular to the select direction, so that the guide slot permits the shift lever to be operated from the parking position to one of the other operating positions, when the shift lever is first moved from the parking position to the intermediate position in the select direction and then moved from the intermediate position to the above-indicated one other operating position in the shift direction. JP-11-227485 A discloses an example of such a vehicular shift lever device.
Referring to FIG. 7, there is shown a vehicular shift lever device as disclosed in the above-identified publication, which is disposed at a position of a center console located adjacent to an operator's seat of a vehicle. In this vehicular shift lever device, the path of movement of a shift lever 100 is defined or restricted by a guide slot 102. The shift lever 100 has a plurality of operating positions P, R, N, D, etc. which are spaced apart from each other in the shift direction parallel to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The shift lever 100 as shown in FIG. 7 is placed in the parking position P when the vehicle is parked. When the shift lever 100 is operated from the parking position P to the reverse position R for reverse driving of the vehicle, the shift lever 100 is first moved from the parking position P to a parking-select position “P-select” in the select direction parallel to the transverse or width direction of the vehicle, more specifically, in the right direction, and is then moved to a reverse-select position “R-select” in the shift direction parallel to the longitudinal or running direction of the vehicle, more specifically, in the rearward direction of the vehicle. Subsequently, the shift lever 100 is moved from the reverse-select position “R-select” in the left direction to the reverse position R. Thus, the operation of the shift lever 100 from the parking position P to the reverse position R requires a movement of the shift lever 100 along a generally U-shaped path. The parking-select position “P-select” corresponds to the intermediate position described above.
The shift lever is mechanically connected to an automatic transmission via a link or cable, so that a movement of the shift lever in the shift direction actuates a manual valve to switch a hydraulic circuit for permitting a shift-up or shift-down action of the automatic transmission to a newly selected operating position (gear position) or holding the automatic transmission in a presently selected operating position (gear position). For accommodating a specific operating error and an assembling error of the automatic transmission, the shift lever has a suitable amount of play in the shift direction at each of the operating positions P, R, N, D, etc. A rectangular area A indicated by hatching lines in FIG. 8 is an area of play in which the center point of the shift lever 100 (indicated by circles) is movable between the parking position P and the parking-select position “P-select”.
Generally, a shift lock member is disposed between the parking position P and the parking-select position “P-select” of the shift lever 100. The shift lock member is arranged to be moved to its retracted or unlocking position for permitting the movement of the shift lever 100 from the parking position P to the parking-select position “P-select”, when a predetermined unlocking condition (e.g., an operation of a vehicular braking system) is satisfied. When the predetermined unlocking condition is not satisfied, the shift lock member inhibits the movement of the shift lever 100 from the parking position P to the parking-select position “P-select”.
In the above-described known shift lever device wherein the center point of the shift lever is movable within the area of play A shown in FIG. 8, the shift lever tends to be moved back and forth in the shift direction (longitudinal direction of the vehicle) during the movement from the parking position P to the parking-select position “P-select”, or may be moved in the forward direction of the vehicle as the shift lever is moved rightwards toward the parking-select position “P-select”. In the latter case, the shift lever must be turned along a bent path of an actuate angle when the shift lever is moved from the parking position toward the reverse-select position “R-select” via the parking-select position “P-select”. Thus, the known vehicular shift lever device suffers from a risk of low operating stability and smoothness of the shift lever.
In the known vehicular shift lever device, the shift lock member is required to inhibit the movement of the shift lever from the parking position P to the parking-select position “P-select”, irrespective of a path taken by the shift lever within the area of play A shown in FIG. 8. This means that the shift lock member must have a relatively large dimension in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, resulting in a relatively large space required for allowing the shift lock member to be moved between its locking and unlocking positions, and a consequent problem of increased size and weight of the shift lock member.